The field of application of the invention is more particularly an indenting apparatus suitable for punching or scratching a material with a given force of pressure or of impact with the aid of a tip, for example of the Vickers, Berkovitch, Knoop or spherical type, and, subsequently, suitable for measuring the dimensions and the volume of the trace left on the material to be tested as a result of the force of pressure or of impact that this material has sustained. It is therefore possible to determine the mechanical properties of the material, such as its hardness, its modulus of elasticity, from the shape and the depth of the imprint left in the material and from the curve (force exerted, depth) obtained during the test.
The materials to be tested and the tip are elements having dimensions that can be relatively small. It is therefore necessary to provide holder devices adapted to such dimensions.
Tip indenting items of apparatus suitable for testing a block of material are known in the prior art (U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,191,424, 3,221,535, 6,361,641).
However, these items of apparatus are not adapted for an indentation at very high temperature with very low forces of impact, in order to determine the behavior of materials at very high temperature. Very high temperature is understood to be temperatures higher than 700° C. and capable of reaching 1200° C.
Currently there are no items of indenting apparatus making it possible to determine the behavior of a material, notably at very high temperature, that has to sustain a shock or an impact.